“Hmmm.” He hums as he thinks. “The guard from Ray’s team relieved me around midnight, I think? I got called back after a few hours. You were already asleep on the couch. The doorman saw me.”

I knock again, but the feeling in the pit of my stomach can’t be denied.

Something is wrong.

I press my ear up against the door and listen.

Nothing.

“Here.” I thrust the coffee and muffin at Bigmy and fish through my pocket for the key to Grace’s apartment. I push it into the lock and twist the handle. “Grace?” Maybe she’s sleeping. I walk into the entryway and then turn down the hallway where her bedroom is. The cat comes out of the door, meowing. “Hey, kitty. Where’s Grace?” The cat rubs up against my leg and I peek into the room.

Nothing.

“Fuck. Bigmy, what the fuck? She’s not here!”

“Let me check the rest of the apartment.”

He goes off to do that while I call Ray. He picks up on the first ring. “Yup.”

“Ray, she’s gone. Did you see her leave last night?”

“No. She never left. We had guys outside, both front and back. And the paparazzi was here all night too. They’d have seen her.”

“Not here,” Bigmy says as he comes back into her bedroom. “No signs of a struggle.”

“Did she get any calls last night, Ray?”

“Let me log in and see. I’m on my way up.”

I end the call with Ray and take my attention back to Bigmy. “Who was the guard last night?”

“I’m new, Mr. Asher. I don’t know your men. He had a security badge. Ray sent him up. He came up from downstairs.”

“You said you left around midnight, so why were you called back?”

“He said his wife needed him and could I fill in his shift. I said OK.”

Ray comes down the hallway, breathless from running up three flights of stairs. “She got a text, Vaughn. Two, last night.”

“Who from?”

He throws up his hands. “Unknown number. The first one told her to come up on the roof.”

A shooting pain runs across my shoulders as I tense up.

“She must’ve hesitated, because she didn’t text back. So the next message asked if she was coming. That’s it. That’s all there was.”

“What time?”

“Twelve twenty-five.”

I push past them and run down the hallway. I exit the apartment and take the stars up to the roof three at a time. The door is not even closed all the way.

“Fuck. You didn’t secure the roof? The buildings next door are all connected. This is a huge fail!” I look at Ray like he’s an incompetent asshole and he goes still.

“Boss, look—”

“She’s been fucking kidnapped! That freak came and got her. Took her right out of her apartment and you assholes never even saw him!”